An İstanbul court has acquitted BirGün reporter Arı, who was charged with “insulting a public official” upon a complaint filed by bureaucrat Rıza Uçan from the AKP

ELİF AKGÜL, ISTANBUL

The third hearing in the trial of BirGün reporter İsmail Arı, who is charged with “insulting a public official” upon a complaint filed by bureaucrat Rıza Uçan from the Justice and Developmenbt Party (AKP) was held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 4 November 2025.

Arı did not attend the hearing, which was monitored by P24, but his lawyer Ali Deniz Ceylan and Uçan's lawyer Fatma Betül İsen were present in the courtroom.

Lawyer Ceylan made a statement against the opinion presented by the prosecutor at the previous hearing, which requested punishment for Arı for the impugned crime.

“Uçan's lawsuit was dismissed”

Beginning his statement by saying, “We are also doing the prosecutors' job in these cases. We are gathering evidence in favor of the suspects,” Ceylan reminded the court that a case against Uçan related to the assault mentioned in the news report was still ongoing.

Ceylan reminded that Uçan had filed a 1-kurush lawsuit against journalist Arı at the civil court of first instance and that the lawsuit had been dismissed, emphasizing that Uçan was no longer a public official. Ceylan stated that the allegations in the news report were “visible truth.”

“Beating a citizen is not a public duty”

“It is not a public duty for a municipal administrator to beat a citizen,” said Ceylan, adding that, according to legal precedents, public officials may be subject to harsher criticism than ordinary citizens, and that otherwise, news reports cannot be made.

Ceylan went on, “The criteria for reporting are either unknown to the prosecutor's office or not being applied,” and asked, “If there is no public interest in the opinion, how does the press expect to report?”

Ceylan finally stated, “The news item is in accordance with the law,” and requested acquittal.

Uçan's lawyer, Fatma Betül İsen, argued, “Even though the defendant is a public official, the limits of criticism should not be exceeded. We cannot evaluate the defendant's actions within the context of freedom of the press and freedom of thought,” and requested sentencing.

Announcing its verdict, the court acquitted Arı on the grounds that “the act charged is not defined as a crime in the law,” as stipulated in Article 223-2/a of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Background of the case

In an article titled “Dayakçı bürokrat yargılanacak,” (Thug bureaucrat to stand trial) BirGün reporter İsmail Arı reported that Rıza Uçan would appear before a judge for beating a citizen in the municipal building during his time as deputy mayor of Güngören.

In the indictment filed by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on 10 September 2024, the listing of Uçan's subsequent public positions in the relevant news report was interpreted as “linking the alleged facts and accusations to the public duties performed by the plaintiff, thereby suggesting to the public and readers that the plaintiff abused his position.”

The indictment charged journalist Arı with “insulting a public official in connection with their duties” under Article 125-3/a of the Turkish Penal Code, and also requested a one-sixth increase in the sentence on the grounds of “publicity.”